Ken Livingston, the self-described former Trotskyite Mayor of London, seems to inhabit the twilight zone between cultural relativism and the occult. Of late he has taken to embracing one Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Muslim cleric who says that the recent tsunami devastating Asia was Allah’s punishment for the “immorality, decadence and perversion” of the citizens of those countries. Well, I guess Allah made his point, although he probably drowned a hundred thousand or so kids too young even to be perverted into the bargain. But that doesn’t seem to bother London’s nitwit mayor in his desperation not to offend reactionary fundamentalists… Anyway,for those interested in this story, the always interesting Harry’s Place has an excellent update.
UPDATE: Via Memri, Livingstone’s defense of al-Qaradawi.
Roger,
It is worth bearing in mind the demographics of London,the Muslim population is set to be the largest group in the not too distant future,Red Ken the wily old Newt Lover is just positioning himself for his new constituency.The recent speech by Mike O’Brien should also be view in that light(Melanie Philips)
It hasn’t yet dawned on him ,that in that eventuality they won’t need him.
It would be funny if it were not tragic.
Roger:
I have always found it humerous that somehow being a trotsky communist is somehow seen by the left as ok since being a Stalinist has finally, except in certain university circles, is no longer cool. If Trotsky had won the power struggle over Stalin he would have been no better. When both were under Lenin they were equally bloodthirsty and had the same goal of the violent elimination of capitlism. Stalin just got to the top of the heap quicker and thus eliminated Leon first. It is truly sad that the hammer and sickle does not have the same ability to generate disgust the way that the swastika rightly does. The fact that the left has somehow given Trotsky a false patina of respectability shows how demented it truly is.
Kevin P,
I am not even sure if he is a true trotskyite,an opportunist or a serial Benedict Arnold like JF Kerry.(See Kerry’s recent triumphal tour of the Middle East)
Those with this type of psychopathy seems to have no central core of principles,just an ability to say whatever is agreeable to their current audience.
We seem to have an awful lot of them nowadays,is it something to do with pollution?
Interestingly, Trotsky would probably have had them both shot,but then again I mustn’t get nostalgic.
Wasn’t this the guy that was calling for riots when GWB came to London?
Kinda makes me think of Berry. You know big city… asshole mayor.
Red Ken should stick to poisoning pigeons in the park…
Ken Livingston is probably like so many people of the left. They are very hesitant in taking to task anyone of color. Yusuf al-Qaradawi does not possess blue eyes and blond hair. Itís not anything more complicated than that. Iím sure that Livingston would roundly condemn a white Nazi for uttering similar sentiments.
“Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Muslim cleric … says that the recent tsunami devastating Asia was Allah’s punishment for the ‘immorality, decadence and perversion’ of the citizens of those countries.”
Interesting that the country most devastated was Indonesia, which has the most Muslims of any nation in the world. What’s Allah trying to say, exactly?
We’re all being a bit hard on Ken Livingstone. As the head of a large cosmopolitan city, it’s incumbent upon him to cater to constituents other than the gays, feminists, Jews, Christians, secularists and Brits. Why can’t Labor’s Big Tent also welcome and accommodate homophobic, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, anti-Western, jihad and terror supporting, Muslim medievalist imams whose rhetoric would incite or justify the raping, flogging, burning and stoning of gays, feminists, Jews, Christians, secularists and Brits?
Livingstone is merely trying his best to be inclusive and multiculturally sensitive toward fascistic fundamentalists; after all, he is the mayor of a city with the inevitable, unenviable and damnable demographics of dhimmitude to come.
“I’m sure that Livingston would roundly condemn a white Nazi for uttering similar sentiments.” David Thompson, did you write this before or after the dustup over the royal fancy dress swastika?
Tatchell’s note is right on the mark. It would help greatly if the movement and mentality that this sheik represents were thought of as primarily fascist in nature. Not only to clarify the nature of the threat but to point toward a consistent means of approaching it: zero tolerance domestically and a broad military offensive internationally. It will not diminish in nastiness until it is defeated on both fronts.
What I find interesting about folks like al-Qaradawi who claim that the tsunami was Allah’s punishment for sins, is that the worst damage was in Aceh, where there is a strong fundamentalist Islamic presence. Perhapps the strongest in South East Asia.
So why hit there and not, say Las Vegas?
Livinstone is only one strand,the goverment is lining up some very draconian hate speech laws which will proctect Muslims
PeterUk:
So under the law could you state that you are against world terrorism and that the fact 80% of the deaths coming from terrorist attacks in the last 2 years were caused by people of the Muslim faith is strictly a coincidence.